Steve Flowers: We miss Shorty Price
The governor’s races of bygone years were a lot more fun and colorful than today. We would have 10 to 15 candidates. There would be three or four favorites, but we would have ten others that would make an effort to crisscross the state and have fun and cut up a little bit to garner publicity. The “also rans” could not afford the expensive country music stars from Nashville like the George Wallace, Big Jim Folsom, and Jimmy Faulkner frontrunners could to draw a crowd. This year’s gubernatorial race has not been interesting because a popular incumbent governor was running for reelection. However, Kay Ivey did attract eight opponents. However, only two, Lindy Blanchard and Tim James, really mounted a campaign. The six others seem to not do anything, and nobody really knew who they were. The six no-name candidates were Stacy Lee George, Dean Young, Dean Odle, Donald Trent Jones, Dave Thomas, and Lew Burdette. When Burdette qualified, he looked like he had the potential to be a viable candidate, but he seemed to never get out of the gate. If he was running a getting acquainted race, it was unsuccessful. He would probably have as much name identification as a baseball player from the 1960s, who had the same name. As a boy, I had a baseball card of Lou Burdette, who was a pretty good pitcher for the old Milwaukee Braves. Donald Trent Jones probably was hoping that folks would think he was the golf course developer for our famous state links. Dave Thomas was maybe hoping that voters would think he was the Wendy’s hamburgers founder. Today, what we need in the “also ran” category or what I call “run for the fun of it” candidates is another Shorty Price. Most of you do not remember Shorty Price. Ole Shorty was the King of run for the fun of it candidates. He ran for governor every time and really didn’t care how many votes he got. He just ran for the fun of it, and boy was he fun to watch and visit with. He brought new meaning to the word colorful. Shorty was a native of Barbour County, which by the way, is George Wallace’s home county. In fact, Wallace and Shorty grew up together as contemporaries around Clio. Shorty would campaign vehemently and viciously against George Wallace, his nemesis, probably because he was jealous of Wallace’s success as a politician. By the way, Barbour County is called the “Home of Governors” because it has had more governors than any other county in our state’s history. Shorty was maybe the most colorful political clown to ever appear on the Alabama political stage. He not only ran for governor every time, he also ran for numerous offices every time there was an election. That is how he would make his living. He would travel from town-to-town, mostly in southeast Alabama, and panhandle for contributions, and soon after collecting the few dollars that folks would give him, he would convert his campaign contributions into a purchase of a Budweiser beer. In fact, one of his campaign slogans was “Smoke Tampa Nugget cigars, drink Budweiser beer, and vote for Shorty Price.” In one of Shorty’s campaigns for governor, his campaign speech contained this line, “If elected governor, I will reduce the governor’s tenure from four years to two years. If you can’t steal enough to last you the rest of your life in two years, you ain’t got enough sense to have the office in the first place.” Shorty would use recycled campaign signs to save money. He would just change the name of the office he was running for that year. Ole Shorty usually got about two percent of the vote and usually finished last. He was really kind of proud of his usual last-place finish. Indeed, one time the venerable political columnist Bob Ingram mistakenly stated that Shorty finished 13th out of 14th in a particular governor’s race. Shorty blasted Ingram and said, “That’s a blasphemous lie. I finished 14th out of 14.” As stated, Shorty hated George Wallace. One year he was one of many candidates running against Wallace. Shorty coined the slogan, “Shorty, Shorty, he’s our man. George Wallace belongs in a garbage can.” None of these six “also ran” gubernatorial candidates were nearly as good as Shorty. I bet if Shorty were still alive and running today, he would have beaten all six of them. I wish ole Shorty were alive and running in this governor’s race. This governor’s race would have been a lot more fun to watch. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Gov. Kay Ivey avoids runoff in Republican primary
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has turned back eight primary challengers to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination without a runoff in a race that pushed her far to the right. Over the course of the campaign, Ivey repeated former President Donald Trump’s false claims about election theft. Then, the white-haired, 77-year-old Ivey sat at her office desk and pulled three things out of her purse for a campaign commercial: a lipstick, a cellphone, and a revolver. One challenger, former Trump ambassador Lindy Blanchard, slammed Ivey for doing too much to control COVID-19 in a state with one of the nation’s worst pandemic death rates. Another, toll bridge developer Tim James, the son of former Gov. Fob James, did the same and attacked a charter school that opened under Ivey’s watch to cater to LGBTQ youth. Other challengers include Lew Burdette, a former business executive who runs Christian-based group homes; Stacy George, a prison officer and former county commissioner; pastor Dean Odle; GOP activist and businessman Dean Young; Springville Mayor Dave Thomas; and a yoga advocate, Donald Trent Jones. The eventual GOP nominee will face whoever emerges from a Democratic primary runoff between state Sen. Malika Sanders-Fortier of Selma and Yolanda Rochelle Flowers, a career educator from Birmingham. Lieutenant governor at the time, Ivey was catapulted to the state’s top office when Robert Bentley resigned amid scandal in 2017. She easily dispatched four Republican primary challengers and won a full term against a well-financed Democrat, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, in 2018. Ivey has pushed a plan to construct new lockups to upgrade Alabama’s crowded, dilapidated prisons, which are the subject of a Justice Department lawsuit, and she passed a gasoline tax hike with automatic increases to fund road work. Challengers have criticized all that as too much big government and also zeroed in on her handling of the pandemic. While some bash Ivey over a COVID-19 response that left the state with nearly 20,000 dead and the nation’s fourth-highest death rate, Republican opponents have hammered her for shutting down businesses and churches to prevent the spread of disease. In a state where roughly 51% are fully vaccinated, Ivey’s claim that it was “time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks” for illness could come back to haunt her. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Kay Ivey, challengers race to right in Alabama GOP primary
In a pair of campaign ads this GOP primary season, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey falsely declares the election was stolen from Donald Trump and accuses the federal government of “shipping illegal immigrants” to the state. “My message to Biden: No way, Jose,” she says. But a competing ad by former Trump ambassador Lindy Blanchard calls Ivey a “tax-hiking Fauci-loving” liberal, swiping at her for actions during the COVID-19 pandemic and a gas tax increase. Alabama’s Republican primary has become a race to the right, with candidates staking out extreme positions on abortion, immigration, and LGBTQ issues. The race was supposed to be a cakewalk for Ivey — who still remains favored to win a second full term — but right flank opponents are trying to make it a referendum on conservative credentials as they seek to push the Alabama governor into a runoff. Blanchard, who left the U.S. Senate race to run for governor, said there are GOP voters who are not happy with Ivey’s leadership on a number of issues. She particularly cited Ivey’s support for the gas tax increase and mask mandate and business closures during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t want the government anywhere near my health care telling me what to do,” Blanchard said. “I want the people of Alabama to know that if you like Gov. [Ron] DeSantis and Kristi Noem, then you’ll like Gov. Blanchard,” she said, referencing the Florida and South Dakota governors. It is historically difficult for a primary challenger to defeat an incumbent governor. None of the primary challengers have the footprint to defeat Ivey alone. They instead are placing hopes that they can collectively garner enough primary votes and keep Ivey below 50% of the vote to spark a runoff and a new political ballgame. Ivey faces a total of eight primary challengers, including Blanchard, businessman Tim James — the son of former Gov. Fob James — and Lew Burdette, who runs King’s Home, a Christian-based nonprofit with group homes throughout the state. Former Morgan County Commissioner Stacy Lee George, Opelika pastor Dean Odle, businessman Dean Young, Donald Trent Jones, and Springville Mayor Dave Thomas are also challenging Ivey. James has also criticized past mask mandates and the gas tax increase that includes a provision for automatic increases based on the National Highway Construction Cost Index. “Governor Ivey and the political crowd found a way to raise taxes forever without having to vote on them,” James said in the ad. James, in other ads, called transgender swimmer Lia Thomas “a man in a woman’s bathing suit” and criticized a first-of-its-kind charter school in Homewood that was created to welcome LGBTQ students. An Ivey campaign spokesman said the governor is confident she will win without a runoff. Spokesman William Heartsill said the governor’s record speaks for itself. “Governor Ivey has done what other people are only talking about doing.” Among other actions, the campaign cited her record on job creation and her signing of legislation to try to ban abortion at any stage of pregnancy, forbid transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams at schools, and outlawing the use of puberty blockers and hormones to treat transgender minors. “Kay Ivey is the most conservative governor our state has ever had. She has always been a fighter for conservative values, and that will never change,” Heartsill said. Blanchard, who was Trump’s ambassador to Slovenia, ran an ad that questioned why Ivey didn’t appear on stage with Trump at a Cullman rally. It was there that a cantankerous crowd jeered U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks for suggesting that voters focus energy on the next election since they couldn’t change the outcome of the most recent presidential contest. Ivey greeted Trump at the airport, and her office distributed photos of the meeting. Trump has not weighed in on the Alabama race. The dynamic is playing out in other states. J.D. Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” won the Republican primary for an Ohio Senate seat in a race where contenders competed to be the most Trump-like candidate. State Rep. Mike Ball, who is retiring after 20 years in the Alabama Legislature, said the candidates all have staunchly conservative positions and are in a race amongst themselves to be the most conservative of all. “There are some extreme positions being taken in this primary. Look at the ads on these hot button issues,” he said. David Mowery, an Alabama-based political consultant, said right now there is “a lot of sound and fury and we’ll see what it signifies on Election Day.” “Ivey still has the upper hand and at least a solid shot of winning without a runoff,” he said. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
